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The Other Hobby

It is interesting to look through my Lightroom catalogue and see month to month and year to year trends in my shooting habits. The catalogue starts back in 1998 with my first digital camera the Apple QuickTake 100. (It was as advanced then as the most recent digital camera is now, but back then it was revolutionary.) The catalogue now has 100,000+ images. If you are familiar with Lightroom you will know what the file structure looks like; basically each month and year is labeled with the number of files. As cycling crept into my life the number of photos dwindled.

Maybe it all started here with my mom taking me out shopping on the bike. Japan 1969

A few years ago I picked up road cycling and went head first down the rabbit hole. I tried scuba diving for a few years, but the logistics of it made it inconvenient. Cycling was appealing for a few reasons: it was gear intense, it was a healthy habit and it was much more time efficient compared to scuba diving. About the gear intense comment, I admit that I really enjoy all the gear and gadgets that go along with any hobby, diving, cycling, becoming and audiophile and of course photography. Cycling ticked a lot of boxes.

The bike has brought me to some pretty cool sites along the way. Taiwan’s north coast.

I had a couple friends that were also supportive in different ways. One was already a cyclist and one was getting interested at the same time so the motivation and support was there to fan the flame of my new hobby. Previous to this the last time I was on a road bike it had leather strapped cages that my tennis shoe would fit into, clipping in was not an option and all the shifting was on the downtube.

Back to the Lightroom catalogue. The correlation between when I starting riding the and months when I spend a lot of time on the bike is obvious. My photography took a pretty big hit when I started riding. It did bother me a little, but I was loving the new hobby. Eventually I started bringing a camera with me on some of the rides to document some of the beautiful and interesting sights I see on the rides. Most of the time the iPhone does all the photographic work and occasionally I bring out the NEX7 as a riding companion. One small drawback is that most riders are not interested in stopping mid-ride to grab photos so that has meant more solo riding compared to when I started out in this hobby.

The bike has provided several beautiful sunset rides. Taipei, Taiwan.

I am just about to enter my third year of riding, I’ve collected a couple bikes a few cameras and I think I’ve found a good balance between the two hobbies. So, with all that being said you may will see the influence cycling has had on my photography.

Cycling has changed my view of things on the streets, a little.

This was one of the more foolish, but fun rides I’ve ever done. We decided to rent some city bikes for the day and tackle a 3000′ climb up into the mountains. These bikes were not meant for this kind or riding. They are ridiculously heavy, are not geared correctly, have fat under-inflated tires and have weak brakes. Yes, we loved it every second of the ride.

A contact sheet of some cyclist I found in Paris. This series was taken over the course of just a few minutes. Paris, France.

This was one of the most memorable rides, heading up Mount Rainier. Seattle, Washington. Photo credit: Tom Collins

A nice view down the road.

I’ve had my share of crashes and breakdowns. Here’s a rear dropout failure on a Cervelo R3. To Cervelo’s credit they had it replaced and rebuilt in two weeks.

Another spot the cycling has brought to my attention.

I really liked this bike until the frame cracked, see other photo. Cervelo R3.